Sinead O’Connor blames tour cancellation on insomnia

Sinead O’Connor has blamed her recent tour cancellation on a crippling case of insomnia that was exacerbated by her busy schedule.

The Irish singer suffered a meltdown while on tour in Europe last month and subsequently scrapped her entire 2012 schedule to retreat from the music industry and seek treatment for her bipolar disorder.

She has stayed out of the spotlight since her big announcement, but she has now written an open letter to fans to explain what happened.

In the note, O’Connor reveals she is also suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and insomnia, which she blames for worsening her health problems and making her unable to keep up with her hectic promotional schedule.

She writes, “I have been extremely frighteningly unwell. … It was well known to my manager that a major symptom in my illness was a total in-ability to sleep naturally and an immunity to sleeping tablets. This is an impossible thing to cure when your schedule has been set without your knowledge in a manner that does not allow you time to get proper medical help. … A singer can absolutely not perform or operate without proper sleep. A singer’s body is her instrument.”

O’Connor, who claims to have attempted suicide in January, also accuses her music industry handlers of failing to take her fragile mental state into consideration when booking her tour and breaking an agreement about keeping her away from her children.

She adds, “My needs as a human being and an artist were not being considered by the people around me, despite how brilliantly those people performed their business tasks. … I was surrounded by people who did not love or respect or care for me as a human being but were simply there to make a living from me and had no inkling or care as to what that living might cost me and my children ultimately. … I found myself expected to carry out unreasonable tasks and stay sane fit and healthy, while not being given space, time, or assistance of any kind to get medical help.”

She also reveals she contemplated suicide again during a trip to New York, writing, “I actually contemplated jumping out of a moving taxi because of the way in which I was being spoken to and treated by my management.”

However, O’Connor insists she hopes to return to music one day, but only if she is properly looked after, adding, “If I go back to music in any arena, I will have to be careful how things are set by those around me and careful that I am really being loved and respected and taken care of and that I’m not just there to pay anyone’s mortgage at any cost. I am not prepared to be prostituted because I have a gift.”